Today's News

RALEIGH—More insurance rate hikes have been requested for coastal properties.

The North Carolina Rate Bureau recently requested a 20.9-percent increase for homeowners’ insurance for some non-owner occupied housing, according to North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin.

CAROLINA SHORES—About half the resumes submitted show candidates for a new town administrator aren’t qualified, a town commissioner says.
Town commissioner Joyce Dunn, speaking at town commissioners’ monthly meeting Jan. 6, said of 60 to 70 resumes received by the town human resources committee, “30 flat-out are qualified.”
Soon, she said, the committee will arrange interviews with people who “met the first cut,” then will winnow that down to six or seven people who are “definitely qualified” to succeed retiring town administrator Linda Herncane, who officially leaves the town Feb. 1.

CALABASH—After much debate, town commissioners have agreed to have a joint workshop with the town planning and zoning board to discuss what has become a hot-button issue in town—animated signs.
A majority of board members also rejected the appointment of former town commissioner Emily DiStasio to a vacancy on the planning and zoning board.

The Aggressive Criminal Enforcement (ACE) Team is a support unit, whose primary functions are traffic enforcement and assisting in the apprehension of drug traffickers in the county. The ACE team conducts driving while impaired and driver’s license checkpoints, as well as street-level investigations on controlled substances.
The ACE team works with the sheriff’s office K-9 Enforcement Team and Drug Enforcement Unit to apprehend narcotics suspects as well as saturating hot spots where criminal activity is reported.

HOLDEN BEACH—A 10-minute shower proved to be dangerous Tuesday morning, when rain froze almost instantly on the bridge leading to Holden Beach.

“When I came across the bridge this morning at 10 minutes to 7 [a.m.], the bridge was fine. From then, until about quarter after nine, the bridge remained fine,” Holden Beach Police Chief Wally Layne told town commissioners at their Tuesday night meeting.

Growing up, if I wasn’t falling down, I was running into doors and other large household objects—like furniture.

The result was a lot of cuts, bruises and scrapes. Couple that with the fact that every living, breathing, biting insect typically gnawed into my arms and legs, and you can see the picture—I frequently looked like I had been rolling around in barbed wire.

There was some concern that with the departure of state Sen. R.C. Soles Jr. and state Sen. Julia Boseman from the General Assembly in Raleigh, coastal North Carolina could get less attention in the state this year.

But if Bill Rabon’s public reception and freshman leadership role are any indication of how his first term in office is going to evolve, then it looks as though we may be just fine.

Rabon is replacing a longtime senator, and the seat is switching from Democrat to Republican. He will have a tough job ahead of him.